What We Freely Give Away, We Keep

From: Joseph Weiss <joseph.weiss@myldsmail.net>
Date: September 29, 2013 11:46:21 PM MDT


This week was pretty hectic, but all of them are, I've come to realize. As far as Australia lingo goes, I figured out why they say "Sweet as" or "That's nice as!". Because normally you would say "that's sweet as can be" or "that's nice as can be" but they just shorten it. I hear the Chileans and the Aussies do the same thing to their language. Shorten everything or take off the endings. My Spanish is still getting better. I'm so glad I got to spend six weeks studying Spanish because I know all of the fundamentals really well and I help my companions out a lot when they have questions because they got shipped out after two weeks because they were in the advanced class but now they don't remember how to conjugate certain things.

So we had a trade of with the zone leaders and we spent most of the day working on the area book. It hasn't been used in a while and I didn't get completely trained on how it works. This past Sunday we all gave talks to the ward for sacrament meeting. It was a fifth week Sunday and the Stake Presidency came and told the ward that they are not closing the ward because rumors have been going around but they told them they have get their act together as ward members and get behind the Bishop in his vision for rescue work and missionary work. It was awesome.

There are going to be some mad (major) changes happening in the next few weeks within our ward. This is the barricade scene from Les Mis. This is our last big push for the Spanish ward and if it doesn't work the ward's fate is pretty much sealed. The Stake Presidency spoke for the first block and almost a half and then sacrament meeting was last. During Sunday School we went into a room to finish our talks. In sacrament meeting we tried to "smash" the ward.

First the Bishop's daughter told an experience she had this past week sharing the gospel with her friends, then we spoke about crying repentance which is to Teach, Testify, and Invite. Elder Jones did teach, I did testify, and Elder Edmondson took invite. I poured my soul into that talk. I don't want this ward to stay how it is. People aren't motivated to help of the missionaries or reactivate their friends that have lost their way. It's like President Monson says, "What we selfishly keep we lose. And what we freely give away, we keep."

We've got three weeks to make a difference. Man it's exciting and nerve racking at the same time because we are in a threesome we know someone will get moved so we just want to smash these last three weeks so bad! When I stood up on that stand a feeling of love came over me. I was able to feel for a moment how the Savior feels about these people. That is one thing I struggle with is loving people. That sounds horrible but I can be obedient, that comes easy. I can work hard, that's normal. But loving the people is a gift that you can't develop alone. Still trying to figure that out! I love you all so much!

Ofatu! (Tongan for love ya! I hope I learn Samoan or Tongan before I come home! That'd be so hectic! But for now Spanish is enough!)

Elder Weiss VI